Read Online Cross & Crown by Abigail Roux - Free Book Online

it’s
your
theory!”
    “Not according to the report I’ll be submitting!” Nick called back.
    “Don’t you dare put my name to a time-traveling Knights Templar librarian, you crackpot!”
    Nick laughed as he slid his feet into his shoes and headed for the door.

hat are you doing here on a Saturday? How the fuck long have you been here?” Hagan asked Nick as he tossed his coat onto his desk chair.
    Nick looked up from the files he was studying.
    “Oh my God,” Hagan said as he saw Nick’s face. “You look like a feral cat in an alleyway. What have you done to yourself?”
    “Found a case of energy drinks in the break room,” Nick answered, his words clipped and precise. “I think I got something on this case, man.”
    “Is it contagious? ’Cause I’d rather not do… this,” Hagan said as he waved his hand at Nick.
    “No. Okay so, we have the books they went after in the shop, right? But why take books you can’t hope to sell? Discounting the highly unlikely scenario that they had a buyer for those specific rare books, which could be true I guess—”
    “O.”
    “I mean they could just be front men for someone with money, but still, it had to be the books themselves they were after and those books specifically.”
    “Dude, can you feel your tongue?”
    Nick picked up the book he’d been examining and turned it so Hagan could see it. “Look. This one has a complete surveyor’s map of Boston from 1819, and a copy of an earlier reproduction from 1779.”
    Hagan raised an eyebrow. “What happened in 1819?”
    “Nothing. I don’t know. But that’s what all four have in common.”
    “1819?”
    “No. They’re all contemporary reports from Boston in the years after the Revolution.”
    “Vive la révolution. So… a crew of highly trained thieves broke into a rare bookstore, stole four books and two as yet unknown objects, and then
killed
a man, all because they’re planning a heist of Revolutionary War era Boston?”
    Nick glanced up at his partner, nodding.
    “Where are they hitting next to get their time machine parts? We should put a few unis on that shit.”
    Nick glared at him for several seconds, then his eyes darted over Hagan’s hands. “Where’s my coffee?”
    “Oh, fuck no.” Hagan threw both cups of coffee in the trash can, shaking his head. “No more caffeine for you.”
    Nick stared at them, seriously thinking about reaching in after one of them, when Captain Branson paced over to their desks. Nick and Hagan both watched him expectantly. He stood over them with his hands behind his back. Nick was pretty sure he and Hagan hadn’t done anything to draw their captain’s ire, but you never knew.
    Branson pursed his lips and peered into the trash can, then back at Nick. “Correct me if I’m misreading you, Detective O’Flaherty, but were you about to go after that cup of coffee in the trash bin?”
    Nick’s eyes darted to the trash can, then back to his captain’s again. “Yes, sir.”
    Branson nodded sagely. “How long have you been here?”
    “I’m not sure, sir.”
    Hagan cleared his throat. “Please don’t ask him to explain his current theory.”
    Nick pressed his lips tightly together, self-aware enough to know when
not
to speak. He avoided Branson’s eyes for all of two seconds before he gave in, though. “I have a consultant I’d like to bring in on the case.”
    “For?”
    “Hunting treasure.”
    Branson frowned, gave Hagan one last sideways glance, then cocked his head at Nick. “Okay. Make sure he signs the waivers.”
    Nick and Hagan watched him walk away, aiming for his office with a steaming mug of coffee in hand.
    “What just happened?” Hagan finally asked.
    Nick shook his head, still frowning at his captain. Then he turned back Hagan and straightened up. “Where’s the witness?”
    “I left him in the break room with a uni.”
    “How’d he do last night?”
    “After you left, he was fine. You got the Midas touch, my friend.” Hagan reached